a little hummingbird

Cabaret Éclectique III

2009-09-26T02:11:00.005+10:00

I've recently moved into the Coop sur Gènèreux, a housing collective in the heart of Montreal's Plateau district. We are a community of youth, based on cooperative principles including: open-communication, resource sharing, and challenging the present standards. All our decisions are reached collectively by consensus. We are an evolving project, coming together around our shared convictions of building a just and healthy environment. So alongside sharing communal space, food, skills and life, we host community dinners, organise arts events and initiate creative projects generally revolving around issues such social justice, environmental sustainability.

Tomorrow night we're hosting our third Cabaret Éclectique. The evening will include music, poetry readings, spoken word, experimental theatre, and more. The event will also see the launch of Yannick Bériault's poetry collection 'Bruissements'.

For more info check out the facebook event

women displaced, women trafficked…

2009-09-26T01:53:00.001+10:00

Last week I stumbled across a weekly discussion forum called University of the Streets Café. With an attempt to draw people from diverse backgrounds and realities, the initiative aims to enable continued learning through public conversation. Community building in an ‘old fashioned’, face-to-face kinda style… And isn’t this something that is rapidly disappearing amongst the roar of cyber chatting, text talk and passive, mindless entertainment… Of course, this blog is a dead giveaway of my cyber advocacy, but I’ve come to realise nothing can completely replace the warm sense of connection found in a good ‘real life’ conversation.

The first conversation for the fall program was called Women Displaced, Women Trafficked: If art is political can it also be poetic?, and it stemmed from a public rehearsal of Columbian-born choreographer Carmen Ruiz’s multimedia performance À la limite.

Using inspiration from Columbian folklore, Ruiz’s performance wove a striking story of the emotional upheaval, despair and invisibility felt by the millions of women displaced by war and political conflict.

I found the opening, in particular, extremely powerful due to its play with ambiguity of form. As my eyes adjusted from the darkness of the start, I noticed a moving object silhouetted far stage left. It took me a while to realise it was actually the dancer. With her hands and feet close to each other on the ground and backside twisting and contorting in the air, the dancer had created an unidentifiable shape that seemed to be directly symbolic of women’s disempowerment and objectification.

For the first few sections of the work, the dancer didn’t show her face. And when she finally did – making direct eye contact with the audience – it was a strong moment… As though by crashing down the fourth wall of the stage, she was boldly regaining the power lost from women and reinstating their rightful place….

Drawing elements of both Columbian and contemporary dance, Ruiz shifted between different emotional states as the work progressed gradually moving into a more upright position. Heavy breathing, gunshots, news report samples and music juxtaposed the dancer’s movements, while images – silhouettes of women, wind swept grass, abstract shapes – intersected and enabled smooth transitions between each section.

As Ruiz mentioned in the subsequent conversation, she is interested in exploring the bridges between folklore and contemporary life. The Afro-columbian influence ‘gives it a context, a root into history, a certain reality, she said. ‘A part of me cannot create art away from this context actually’, she said. This history, it seems, is firmly a part of her identity.

The conversation moved on to explore the intersection and collsion between political and poetic elements of performance. As a group we pondered the way performance can be used to transform difficult, challenging and harsh themes to create poetic works of art.

The idea that dance can transcend language was one of myriad discussion points. This seemed particularly relevant in the context of a trilingual audience! Yet while we might be able to construct a dialogue with dance due to its abstract nature, the question arose as to whether a political work like Ruiz’s should be imposing a particular point of view or allowing the audience to make their own conclusions. Opinions were mixed. Ruiz mentioned that she doesn’t want to impose anything on the observer, but simply wants to communicate in a new way.

One speaker, however, pointed out that the news report samples provided a strong objective message and therefore her work did impose a particular message on the audience. Another speaker encouraged Ruiz to be more overt because dance allows us to communicate deeply about issues that are harsh realities in our everyday lives. Another pointed out that the role of dance – particularly in Africa – has traditionally been used to express violence present in society. ‘Don’t be afraid to sweat’, he said. Given this historical context, perhaps Ruiz might push the boundaries even further.

In true Montreal style, the bilingual conversation ebbed and flowed naturally between French and English with a dash of Spanish (the dancers native language). For monolingual audience members such as myself, whispered translations were established to ensure all our linguistic needs were met.

Rather than interview-style, the conversation was a two-way stream where the performer was invited to ask questions along with the audience… It was an interesting dialogue and along with learning more about the displacement of women, I left feeling inspired by the knowledge that art is creating social change and that initiatives like this are bringing people together to build connections and discuss important topics…

Carmen’s final work will be presented at the Montreal Art Interculurels in March 2010…

Hot! Hot! Hot!

2009-09-26T01:43:00.003+10:00

Montreal is one of those places that seeps rapidly into your veins intoxicating you with its quirky character, creative buzz and general chaos. I’m addicted already. Every day the city reveals a new facet of itself, sharing with me another secret… I think I'm here to stay. For now, anyway. And now that I'm getting more settled, I hope to devote more time to writing on this blog...

There is so much happening here in the way of theatre, music, art, film etc... It's been almost two months since I arrived here, and I'm only just beginning to scratch the surface of the landscape.

I found my way to a night of storytelling last week: DeAnne Smith’s monthly storytelling night Tale Spin at Le Cagibi (Mile End). With a slightly different spin to the usual comedy act, four local comic’s shared personal stories on the night’s topic: hot! hot! hot! And being comedians, the performers told their tales with the kind of flair and humour that only they can conjure.

It was a cozy relaxed evening where audience members lounged on couches sipping hot chai and coffee while comedian’s tattled their tales with style and pizazz…

The concept is a simple yet effective one, highlighting the importance of storytelling as a means for connection, entertainment and art making. The theme this month is Balls. Acts include Dan Bingham and Jess. If you’re up for a funny story or two, I highly recommend strolling along to Le Cagibi (5490 St. Laurent) Thursday 24 Sept at 8:30 p.m.

And speaking of hot: if you’ve never seen DeAnne perform make an effort to get to Theatre Ste. Catherine this Friday night. DeAnne is hosting a comedy/burlesque show featuring comics Melissa Morse and David Pryde (Comedy Now, Just for Laughs), stripper-types L. Diablo, The Fabulous Miss Vigneault, and Dom Castelli and the contortionist extraordinaire, MiMi! Doors open at 8pm. I’m heading there so join me for a beer after!

Oh and check out DeAnne’s blog here.

New AMC website!

2009-07-17T06:36:00.003+10:00

I took a snoop to see what's been happening in down on Australian cyber shores. I notice the Australian Music Centre has finally launched their new website. Hoorah! The inside scope is that they've already tripled web traffic with now around 1,000 unique users a day. Now that's success!! Well done AMC... You can read more about the website here.

I have to admit I'm sad to see the end of resonate as a standalone magazine. Seems a pity that it got swallowed up into this new website, particularly when it was slowly growing to be a hub for informal online discussion. On the upside, however, there seems to be a rapidly growing interest from music writers. Very exciting times for Australian new music!!

Oh, and I've just discovered the site spits out a list of my resonate articles. Yup, some shameless self-promotion. Oh yeah!

spring cleaning

2009-07-17T06:32:00.002+10:00

The Canadian spring is almost over so a little hummingbird is spring cleaning. She's decided that all non-artsy (whatever that means!) stuff is cluttering up her nest. Silly fusspot. So if you're keen to follow the travel adventures and random happenings of her creator take a peak over here.

montreal

2009-06-26T01:11:00.000+10:00

three days + two nights + greyhound bus + bad food + muscle cramps + gorgeous prairie fields + surreal adventure = destination Montreal!!!

Stay tuned for musings on the scene here...

raging grannies and protest songs

2009-05-11T07:40:00.007+10:00

With the Provincial elections rapidly approaching, I knew that my chances of running into election campaigners was high. But what a delight to hear the Raging Grannies strike up a tune as I entered the market area. The Raging Grannies - groups of older women who dress up mockingly and sing protest songs - began in the eighties in Victoria but are now considered an activist organisation with splinter groups all over the world. They sung politically-charged lyrics set to well-known folk songs. Quite a sight indeed!

activist theatre: velovixens

2009-05-11T05:57:00.007+10:00

Since arriving in Canada, I've been aching to hit the road on my bike with panniers full of camping goodness. All roads leading out of Vancouver beckoned with promises of beautiful scenery and adventures on the road. To the east, roads wound their way through thick coastal forest and up into the silvery, snow-capped mountains. Beyond the mountains lay the rugged prairies. The coastal mountain range, lakes, inlets of the Sunshine Coast were just north west of Vancouver, while the rolling hills, rainforests, old growth forests (well, what was left of them!), and scenic coastal lines of Vancouver island were just a short ferry ride from south Vancouver... so many choices! what to do?

But when I heard about Victoria's 2009 Bike Prom, my decision was made. Who could resist an event that not only celebrates bikes, but promises to lure you back to the wonders of your high school graduation. hmmmm I was a tad curious....

So my plan evolved into a month of cycling up Vancouver Island and back down the Sunshine coast to arrive back in Vancouver around the beginning of June. But first stop: Bike Prom!

Bike Prom is an annual event hosted by bike-loving extraordinaires in Victoria - a city on the southern most tip of Vancouver island, the capital of British Columbia.

Held over three days, the event included bike races, art shows, moonlight mystery rides, bike polo games, bike films, and culminated in a massive masquerade-themed ball that seemed suspiciously similar to my high school prom (or 'formal' as we'd call it in Australia) only on bikes. One highlight of the evening was the pre-ball mystery ride which saw over 60 dressed-up cyclists weave their way through the streets of Victoria, whizz along the southern coastline of the island and scamper up a small hill to watch the sun go down where we were serenaded by local gypsy band Orkestar Slivovica.

Another highlight of the evening was seeing a performance by the Velovixens - a local bike-themed physical theatre group. Using theatre, dance, music, and imagery, they performed a simple yet effective and provocative piece called the 'rat race', which provided commentary on society's obsession with materialism. With an astounding stage presence, these girls were an absolute hit with the audience who cheered and screamed wildly when they finished their number. It was so clear that the performers were enjoying every minute of being on stage and this enthusiasm, fun, energy and focus trickled back to the audience. We felt it. And that's what the Velovixens are about. They aren't interested in producing slick, polished high end art; they're out to have fun, with a mind to educate and inform their audiences about varying 'sustainability' issues as they perform.

And so this was my introduction to Victoria. A sneak peak into the bike/art/activist scene. Quite a fun scene too.

a little hummingbird in flight...

2009-04-17T12:43:00.003+10:00

Almost a year has past since I've popped in for chat... many twists and turns, adventures and new beginnings. A year of self-discovery and rest...

Besides hanging quietly in my blue mountains retreat (playing in my vege garden and exploring creative projects), I've spent a lot of time hanging out with the kids at The Otesha Project and ended up cycling on one of their tours from Brisbane to Newcastle late last year... amazing stuff!

But today is a new day... and with a rustle of feathers and deep breath I'm spreading my wings to head to the land of grizzly bears, beavers and maple syrup: Canada...

It's been a while since I've traveled overseas and my feet have been super itchy of late. So with a working holiday visa in one hand, an over-stuffed bag and a head full of dreams and adventures I'm off on a flight late tomorrow afternoon. Yikes!

I plan to spend some time rambling and reflecting here as I wander through Canada, so stay tuned!

it's oh so quiet...

2008-05-15T21:18:00.008+10:00

Actually, it's anything from quiet. My head is buzzing with ideas, thoughts and inspiration; my heart is singing; my feet are dancing; the world around me seems crazy and surreal... yet it's all making so much sense...

So, I'm back in the mountains after two amazing weeks working on the life between buildings projects as a Bundanon artist in residency. My commitment to blog daily while I was there was ruined by the internet collapsing in the last four days. Probably a good thing though. It made me realise just how bloody addicted I am to the damn internet... hhmmm...

Anyway, once I get back into the swing of life, catch up with the exciting chaos that I left behind and give myself time to reflect, I'll tell you all about it. Stay tuned!

In the meantime, pop on over to my flickr webpage to get a very small taste of some of the things I was up to while there.

environmental sustainability discussion

2008-05-09T12:02:00.003+10:00

For those of you interested in the function of art in relation to environmental sustainability, you might want to check out the online debate that is unfolding over at the lifebetweenbuildings project blog.

Jules, Rhi and I - who really don't want to leave our scrumptious Bundanon cottage in two days time - over the next few hours will chat online about our ideas on the function of art and their relation to environmental sustainability. Feel free join in with us!

imaginary swims, creative muses and chocolate adventures

2008-05-08T18:17:00.003+10:00

Another update from bundanon residency... read more here.

I bounced out of bed at 7am yesterday, despite my insomnia pushing my body through until about 3am the previous night (crawling into bed at 5:30am isn’t unheard of around these parts either – who needs sleep at times like these!). Aside from wanting some alone time to reflect, I was keen to spend the morning by the river… To think about where I’m at, maybe take advantage of the soft morning light (for photography), but mostly just to meditate and soak up my surroundings. I was surprised at the amount of bird life by the shore – willy wag tails, magpies, wrens, kookaburras, king fishers, crimson rosellas all within a few metres of each other. To be a part of that! Wow!

Of course I wouldn’t dream of breaking the Bundanon Artist’s In Residency ‘no swimming’ rule, so I just…um…errr…danced naked across the sand and dipped my toes in? Yes, that’s what I did. The cold certainly didn’t force a sudden intake of breath as I dived in. And I didn’t shout songs of excitement to the birds as I spooned handfuls of icy water over my head. Neither was I able to experience the cool rush of water swirling around my naked body… so… um… yeah I just sat…. oops, I mean danced… and imagined all of the things that might have happened if I’d swum… As I basked in the sun pretending to let my imaginary drenched locks of hair dry, I watched a willy wag tail flit along the shores, glancing quizzically every so often in my direction (HA - he reminded me of the raven and goat that Boyd obsessively painted as a symbol of voyeurism). I wrote in my journal, took a few photos and breathed in deeply… Ah!

Anyway, it seems the sheer power of imagination made for a sensational day. The dreams of an entirely imaginary morning swim refreshed my mind and soothed my spirit. On returning to my studio, a few tangible ideas for writing began to emerge. Fingers itched. My pen began dancing wildly across the room. And so I wrote! Words. On paper. There’re still very raw, but I’ve started. It’s all very exciting.

Let me explain my excitement: I wasn’t sure how much writing I’d actually do while down here. Having experienced intense writer’s block in the last few months, I’d made the decision to focus on photography, painting and sculpture during the residency. In the lead up to the residency, however, I felt like my blockage was starting to dissipate. This was mostly due to a rediscovery of my passion for letter writing. Through a series of letters to a friend, I found words began flowing from my fingers again. It was a fascinating process. And prompted me to commit, while at Bundanon, to daily blogging and scrawling out morning pages. It’s still a slowly unravelling process, however, and I decided to only write creatively if my fingers started itching to throw words on the page. No expectations. No pressure. But this morning my fingers started itching! Hoorah!

These ten days have taught me a lot about my creative process. Like Julian, ‘lounging about, unwinding, enthusiastically talking up ideas, and idly noodling’ – and I’d add, debating hardcore issues, cooking, reading, watching movies and teasing Jules himself – has been crucial for getting the creative juices flowing. Yet so often I’ll feel guilty if it isn’t immediately obviously that what I’m doing is directly productive towards my end goal. Here I’m learning that so much time for me is spent thinking conceptually about an idea – planning, discussing, exploring abstractly - the nitty gritty craftsmanship of creating a work, words on paper, paint on canvass, emerges much later. I love creating first in my head and bouncing those ideas around, exploring all the options and thinking laterally for further options… So talking, lounging around, cooking etc. are really important and valid! Hmm… brains are such strange things…

Speaking of my brain, the contents of it are currently sprawled across our newly acquired second art studio. Not actual brain bits, of course, just a symbolic representation. With paper, textas, nails and creative enthusiasm, I created a giant mind map of our song cycle/installation when I got back from my river adventure. It isn’t often that I have so much space to spread out, so why not! I also thought it was time for the group to start focusing in on our project. What was actually achievable? What ideas should we keep exploring? Were there actual components that we could start writing/composing? Who wanted to do what? What was the scale of the project? I figured having a central space to summarise our ideas – one drawing board rather than five – would be useful for 1. Ensuring that we are on the same wavelength, 2. Nutting out some achievable goals for the final four days of our residency, 3. Ensuring that we found a model that allowed each one of us to use our strengths to their advantage.

Our discussion in the evening demonstrated just how far we’ve come in finding a collaborative model that seems achievable, despite all our initial concerns. We’re finding ways of working together. We’re moving forward. There are still challenges ahead, but I think we’ve reached another turning point. I’m really excited.

We’re going on an adventure tonight… To sleep in the rundown shack across the paddock – the one in which the Swiss artist built her embroidery installation. A night of creative storytelling, poetry reading, insomnia, mandolin playing and – if Rhiannon actually manages to find her way ‘home’ this time – chocolate munching!

Dammit I don’t want to go home…

food glorious food...

2008-05-03T17:23:00.006+10:00

an update from bundanon.

Food is something I'm very passionate about. Vegan cooking and talking about food ethics is a huge part of my existence. So the idea that was thrown around yesterday about a song cycle focusing on the narrative about the last meal of someone who is about to die (in response to "the last moments of life") has been haunting me...

In conjunction with this idea, I've been thinking about how we could present the song cycle + images (our major group project) in a more cohesive way than a conventional concert setting with screen back drop, or a concept album with accompanying cover art. One idea I've had is a "dinner party installation". The installation would be the creation of a dining room, which would stand alone as an exhibition. The room could reflect the life of our protagonist (eg. through the selection of books on the bookshelf, type of decor, meal choice) as well as being a space to present some of our Bundanon work - there's the potential for a lot of symbolism and layers, which is something we've all been drawn to in the last week...

At various times throughout the exhibition viewers could participate in a "meal sitting". The "meal sitting" would be the presentation of the song cycle, which would occur concurrently with the serving of a four course meal which we've cooked ourselves: the last meal of our character (the singer) is actually shared with dinner guests (the audience, who become performers in the installation)... The meal courses could define the structure of the song cycle and perhaps we could explore different narrative techniuqes so that the drama unfolds in a way that the viewers don't realise this is the last meal until desert... We've been watching a few different films which play with manipulating the psychology of the viewer and exploring with non-linear narrative and these ideas seem to be influencing a lot of my ideas...

Aside from the obvious biblical connotations (which Boyd himself has explored throughout his works), there are also many connections with various films and plays (eg. Chocolat, The Last Supper, Delicatessen). And there is an interesting irony in the fact that food is usually associated with human connection and building community, but in this context it highlights separation and loss.

I think it's a fun idea to at least explore and it would be interesting to set ourselves some environmentally challenges when creating the room: eg. all the furniture might be hard rubbish; food might be vegan...

bundanon and collaboration

2008-05-02T17:19:00.003+10:00

this post is cross-posted over at Life Between Buildings...

Putting on our rainbow thinking caps…
Conversation at the 'muso's cottage' is rarely trivial. And I don't think we'd have it any other way. From politics, critical theory, and ethical values, to the current romantic pursuits of certain group members, our daily creative activities are constantly interjected with stimulating, vibrant, humorous and challenging topics of discussion. Take this morning for instance. I step out of my bedroom. Stretch. Yawn. Rub eyes. Search for a clean teacup. Instead of being passed the pot of tea, I’m thrown a handful of questions. Full pelt. Did I think it important to really know someone for an artistic collaboration to be successful? And what models of collaboration are most meaningful to me? The questioner was thrown back a definite NO from me. I think fruitful collaboration – regardless of the model – is possible with anyone. She caught it gracefully, and immediately threw back some further questions. This time I caught them in my cereal bowl and let them soak up some tasty breakfast goodness before responding… For me, good communication is key…

Speaking of which…

When it comes to working on our creative project, I’m feeling we – as a group –struggle with effective communication. We are finding it difficult to reach consensus on a variety of decisions. And this prevents us from moving forward with confidence. Mind you, I don’t think it is just about communication: we have quite a spectrum of life perspectives – a wide range of political and social viewpoints, music tastes, ethical values etc… and very different approaches to the creative process. This makes decisions that respect each individual viewpoint (a vital thing) difficult and time consuming.

But I think if we ensure that strong communication strategies are in place then surely working together will gradually become smoother and more efficient? While I do feel my ideas and opinions are heard, I feel they are often misunderstood or misinterpreted. And I think I'm doing my fair share of misunderstanding as well... I think we all need to listen more carefully and clarify each other’s viewpoints more frequently. For example, I tend to show my emotions immediately; I’m quite a passionate person. I’m generally quite open with how I feel about an issue, but I think I can work more on demonstrating that my feelings about an issue are more fluid than they might seem. I tend to react from an intuitive viewpoint and then analyse and evolve my viewpoint as the conversation flows. Because I’m feeling misunderstood at times, I’m beginning to react by closing off emotionally. I’m then getting frustrated. I think I need to work on being clearer about my personal needs within the group… being more assertive…

Possible solutions? I’ve suggested reading a document I have on consensus decision-making, while Julian has suggested Edward de Bono’s six-hat approach. I like the sound of this. Basically, issues are considered from six different points of view each represented by a different coloured hat: white hat – attention to pure neutral data; red hat – intuition and feeling; gut feeling without justification being necessary; black hat – the logical negative, caution; yellow hat – logical positive; green hat – new ideas and furthering ideas; blue hat – process control, the metacognition…

Anyway, lots of food for our respective thoughts…

Chewing it over…
We’ve discovered the bitter taste of church hymnbooks. Literally. Over the last few days Ben has been incorporating book pages into the papery bark of a tree in the amphitheatre for an installation and a photo series so we all spent some time helping him. A good technique required us to chew the pages in our mouths first and then paste the soggy pages between layers of bark. As we helped him, ideas for incorporating this into a bigger installation began to emerge…

While trying to hold back the occasional gagging reflex, we also spent this time chewing over ideas for a larger group project. As Rhi mentioned yesterday, I’m ready to sink my teeth into something more solid. Having had a few days to relax, and explore the property and a few emerging ideas, I was ready to come together as a group and start honing in on a project(s). We didn’t have de Bono’s hat strategy at this point so it took a while for the conversation to move forward. From my perspective, I felt a strong need to explore more group work opportunities; the beauty of this residency for me, at least, is the opportunity to actually collaborate with other artists. I’m not really interested in working solo: I can do this at home in my own studio.

Julian and I shared with the group our emerging ideas for a song cycle we’ve working on. The interest in working on a group Song Cycle began exciting us. So by the end of the day (and well into the night for the night owls amongst us), we were pleased that today a pivotal point was reached! Hoorah! A commitment to collaboratively write a song cycle… It will be really interesting to see how the next few days pan out. I’m really excited about the project. And I like the ideas that have emerged so far. I’ve never written text for music (except for a few songs my brother and I have written for family functions…) so it will be a very new challenge for me personally. Bring it on!!

Emerging Projects

As I begin summarising the emerging ideas of the group, I’m excited to see how far we’ve actually come in only four days…

Song Cycle | Music – Julian, Rhi, and Serena; Text – Ben, Dan, Serena; Visual – Ben, Dan, and Julian
Tomorrow we plan to start working on this project, generating ideas and gathering material. We’ll probably work in smaller groups and alone for the most part…We’ve decided to initially explore the theme of ‘Last moments of life’ and see where it takes us. We also decided to work as collaboratively as is possible. ie. We’ll all have input in each other’s work…

Song Cycle | Julian (music) and Dan (text)
Jules and I are still exploring themes and ideas. We’re interested in working in a way where the text and music feeds off each other, rather than a situation such as me writing a text for which Julian might then set to music. So far ideas have centred on notions of authority: the questioning of power structures and systems; different political structures; authorities in music and writing etc… and then ways we might be able to play with that in the work. Some examples include democratising the creative process: sharing this with the performer and audience; experimenting with non-linear structures and narratives: eg. Performing different songs simultaneously in different rooms so the audience could choose which order they view the songs… hmmm many more ideas to explore…

The Red Installation/Photo Series | Ben + others
Ben is still wrapping things in bright red wool – tractor parts, wood, burrawang leaves, and trees. He’s also got Serena and I knitting red scarves (eek!). Aside from serving as a series of installations around the property – intrusions and interventions on the landscape – the wrapping is in preparation for a photo series. As far as I understand, the red theme is quite symbolic. Rarely seen in the Australian bush, usually serves as a warning sign: poisonous mushrooms, red back spiders etc… or perhaps it’s simply a reflection of Ben’s connection with his root chakra… (cheeky grin!)

The Book Tree Installation/Photo Series
When Ben isn’t wrapping things, he’s sneaking pages of books amongst the papery bark of a tree in the amphitheatre. Again this project is emerging as both installation and a photo series… Exploring themes of decay and intrusion, the project is starting to extend beyond Ben’s original vision. We all spent a few hours today helping him to insert pages of the books onto the tree (I discovered chewing them first helped the process!) and as we did this other ideas began to emerge… Perhaps I could explore painting on the tree with natural ochres? How could my bark paintings relate to this installation? It was fun working collectively and we were intrigued at the different methods that emerged… oh and we’re using recycled materials, which will literally decay over time…

Photo Series | Rhi + others
This project focuses on looking at the beauty of detail…
Rhi is currently indulging and delighting in her obsessive-compulsive streak by collecting hundreds of close up images from the bush and sorting them by colour (Ben, Dan and Julian are also taking images to contribute to this project). She plans to build some larger images by using these as ‘mosaic tiles’. One idea she wants to experiment with is the image of a naked woman… She might also look at working with Dan to write some text/music to incorporate into the artwork… Tomorrow Ben, Rhi and I are going to work together to take some shots for Rhi’s naked woman, which she will then pixilate and use to then build up her mosaic image (no guesses as to who get to take all their clothes off!!)

Bundanon Community of Artists | Rhi + Dan (and others?)
This project is still in the ideas stage. We haven’t yet talked too much about directions in which we can head. But we’re keen to look at interviewing some of the artists who’ve worked/lived here with the intention of creating a radiophonic work (with Serena’s and Julian’s help?). Our motivation is a desire to explore the importance of community… (the Bundanon community and the larger surrounding community)

Solo Flute Work | Serena
Serena has been working on a solo flute piece. We spent the other night listening to some solo works by Matthew Bienek and talking about what we thought constituted a quality flute work. She is open to the idea of incorporating this into a bigger group project if appropriate.

Bark Painting | Dan
I’ve finished priming some of the bark with white paint and in the next few days will start painting. I’m thinking about using some of the other bark for sculptures. I’m also keen to explore incorporate some of my ideas with Ben’s installation…

Art and Sustainability | Dan (+ others)
I’m really interested in researching ideas about sustainability in art with the idea of developing some projects over the next few months. Being web-addicts, Julian, Rhi and I have decided to initiate this research by holding an online debate between the three of us over the next few days. I think this will be a really interesting and fun way to explore different ideas and concepts.

Time lapse Photography | Julian
Julian’s current idea is to recreate or model some of Arthur Boyd’s images using time-lapse photography, particularly the sceneries that Boyd obsessively created (eg. Pulpit Rock). There is the potential for sound/music as well…

The Cow project
We’re all still quite traumatised by the baby cows (who are still crying and moaning for their parents). Serena has made some sound recording of the cows, while Dan and Jules – who spent the afternoon with them – have taken some images. Whether we do anything with this footage remains to be seen… but the separation of mother and child has certainly made a huge impact on many of us!

Cloud Animation | Jules
Jules has been working on an animation of cloud pictures using time lapse techniques...

hhmmmm... perhaps there are things I've missed??

PS.

Jules has finally found phone reception! Down on the sandbank of the river. Mind you in the time it took to make three long phone calls, the tide began creeping in significantly. And so when Jules turned to head back home he discovered he was standing on a small sand island...

art is what?

2008-05-01T15:17:00.005+10:00

creativity. challenging. provoking. fun. inspiring. beauty. paying attention. vital. anything. self-expression. good craftsmanship. opportunity. reflection. thought-provoking. affecting change. commodity. powerful. communication. everyday life. boundary breaking. an observer. a critic. autonomous object. process-driven. activism. anarchy. legitimate. individual. a loaded term

sustainability and contemporary art

2008-04-30T16:54:00.004+10:00

I just came across this interesting blog that explores the relationship between contemporary art and notions of environmental sustainability. Lots of interesting issues to explore...

a creative adventure

2008-04-29T23:49:00.006+10:00

Two days ago I was frantically running around my house in a panic. With only two hours until my city-bound train left, I had some serious packing to do for my exciting adventure ahead: a two-week Bundanon residency with four other artists working in various disciplines – writing, music/sound and visual arts. Over the last few months we’ve been developing a collaborative project, and these two weeks at Bundanon – Arthur Boyd’s property on the south coast of NSW – are an amazing opportunity to workshop, experiment and explore ways of working together.

While tempted to take all my favourite books and CDs – comforting means of inspiration, my “eco-conscious” self decided to limit possessions to what I could fit on my bicycle – environmental sustainability all the way! And so, with a bit of a wobble and a cheeky grin, I set off from my house with some changes of clothes, digital camera, laptop, a few books, paints, writing gear, a bunch of canvasses and sheer excitement that the next two weeks were going to be devoted solely to creativity and reflection… (In the end, I did decide to off load my canvasses and other super heavy things to the other artists: 22kms of frantic wobbling wasn’t really that enticing, especially up the hills towards Cambewarra!)

The beautiful property is situated alongside the Shoalhaven River in a wildlife reserve, which was the southern boundary for the Wodi Wodi people, whose territory extended north to Wollongong and the northern boundary for the Wandandian, whose territory went south to Burrill Lake. As I set out cycling from Bombaderry station, the scenery slowly changed from the hectic traffic of the princes highway, to farmland and then eventually into bushland. So many birds! Cycling to Bundanon was the perfect mode of transport. I felt the stresses of work and home quickly melting away and I easily found myself completely present in the moment. Being ambushed by three incredibly scary dogs, on two separate occasions, certainly helped this transition. They jumped out of the bush and barking incessantly, began to chase me up the hill! I think they were just as shocked as I was. I’m sure they’ve never seen a crazy womyn riding along the dirt track before! Boy, I’ve never cycled so fast in my life! Anyway when I actually arrived at Bundanon, I felt energised and refreshed, ready to take on the challenges that the two weeks will surely present…

I had the afternoon to myself, as the others weren’t to arrive until later that evening. I spent it tinkling on the baby grand piano in our cottage; practising yoga; soaking up the warm sunshine; sleeping; and reading…

After a leisurely breakfast (accompanied by the discovery that we have four bags of coffee and at least 10 bars of chocolate between us!), we spent today wandering around the property, soaking up the atmosphere and admiring its beauty; chatting about the directions we want to head with our project and eating lots of yummy food (I was on cooking duty today: a delicious eggplant, zucchini and tofu pasta and a vegan carrot and orange cake for desert!)

I’ve been quite stressed about participating in the project. So many risks… What if the two weeks don’t bare any fruits? What if my creative juices refuse to flow? What if I let the team down? I’ve decided to try and let go of any expectations of what we might achieve during this time. I’m viewing this residency as a time to simply explore and experiment. To let the creative artist in me play and have some fun! Yippee!!

And as I let go of these expectations and start to relax, ideas actually emerge and flutter around inside my head desperate to break out… A few things I might consider exploring:

Environmental Sustainability
This is such a HUGE aspect of my life. I’m becoming increasingly frustrated by the consumerist society in which we live. Science is telling us the consequences of our bad habits. Global warming is upon us and something needs to be done fast! People are slowly taking action, but society expectations (generally driven by the big bad economy) continue to demand that we aim for the age-old Australian dream – to get a well-paid job, to own a house, drive a fancy car, and have kids… Work, work work… until we blissfully retire and enjoy all the material possessions we’ve bought over the years of hard slogger. Life is so often reduced to working, consuming and dying… And boy, do we consume!

All that waste – particularly food – drives me nuts! My journey has taken me into the exciting world of dumpster diving and veganism. I’m an avid cyclist and public transport advocate. And I obsessively attempt to tread as lightly as possible on this earth: communal living, renewable energy, re-using, recycling, reducing…

So I’m keen to begin exploring some visual art techniques that reflect these values. Perhaps experimenting with some natural pigmentation, reusable canvasses, found objects. I’m particularly drawn to exploring skin as a canvass…

Community
The beauty of Bundanon isn’t just in the landscape. Part of the magic of this site, at least for me, is that a community of artists have worked and lived here and continue to do so. I’m so excited to be a part of that! I’m really interested in exploring this idea. From a writing perspective? A series of interviews with artists who have worked here? A radiophonic work? I’m particularly interested by the projects that have engaged directly with other communities in the area (local indigenous groups; at risk teenagers etc.). I’m fascinated by community and believe the development of community is vital. Positive action. Celebrating the goodness in people.

Sound Installation
I’ve always been fascinated by sound installation, particularly with the way it challenges the time element of music, forcing it – at times – into a timelessness existence. It would be really interesting to work with Serena/Rhi/Julian (all working with sound/music) to experiment with this art form. So perhaps potential for scultpture or photography… Also interested in exploring research on site-specific art in this regard…

Song Lyrics
Julian has an idea for a song cycle he wants to write and needs some lyrics. So perhaps a writing opportunity here for me?

Piano Collection
I’m also really psyched to check out the piano collection hidden in a shed in South Nowra. Apparently there are over 200 pianos sitting gathering dust – history just waiting for someone to unleash all her untold stories and tales…

It’s only the end of Day one and already I’m really energised for what lies ahead. Who knows where this will take us!! Oh, and if you're keen to keep up-to-date with our project: check out our blog over here...

the missing link

2008-04-25T17:26:00.002+10:00

Here's an article I wrote earlier this year. A conversation with Jim Denley. It was published in resonate magazine as part of issue two of the journal section (edited by Michael Hooper). You can access the journal here.

The Missing Link
The Splinter Orchestra – an improvisation ensemble based in Sydney – has spent the last four years exploring large-scale collaborative music making. At times the group has had up to 55 members who have worked together musically without a leader or conductor. They released their first first album in July 2007, and in January this year they performed at the NOW now festival of spontaneous music. Danielle Carey chats to Jim Denley, a member of the group and one of Australia’s foremost improvisers, about aesthetics, anarchy and possible connections to improvisation groups of the ‘70s.

Danielle Carey: Can you tell me a little about the founding of the Splinter Orchestra?

Jim Denley: Clayton [Thomas] and I were sitting in Brussels one night listening to the London Improvising Orchestra. We talked about the possibility of doing something with a large group in Sydney. A few weeks later he was doing it. He's like that – an activist.

It was possible because there were suddenly lots of interesting young players on the scene and they had a different sensibility to my generation: they were less concerned with expressionism and less egoistic. It made large group playing good.

DC: So what does the group aim for musically?

JD: We don't have long collective discussions about aims. There is no manifesto. But I'd say we are trying to make large-scale group improvisation work. When we did an ABC recording a year ago, the ABC producer was clearly against the way we organise ourselves, and she cited Sun Ra as an example of a large group that we could learn from, in adopting a more compositional approach and to have clearer hierarchies.

We were offended by this – at the assumption that we hadn't thought about this, and that what we were doing wasn't clearly in the tradition of groups like Ra's.

Sometimes individuals have a notion of how the music could or should sound, and work out procedures or scores to realise this. Some of these have been successful: in particular I'd cite Adam Sussman's and Gerard Crewdson's ideas. But in general the idea is to not know anything in advance – this seems to be our main process. Of course we build up a culture and, through that, assumptions and expectations and contextual structures are very important to the outcomes, i.e. how we stage the group, length of a performance, where is the audience, etc. etc.

Sometimes (twice), individuals who join the group don't work well in the group. This is revealing about what we are trying to achieve. Sometimes, individuals who have worked well in the group for some time, leave for artistic reasons, this too is revealing.

DC: The idea of a large group of improvisers playing together brings to mind Cornelius Cardew’s Scratch Orchestra of the ‘60s. And [Australian composer] David Ahern, after having spent time with Cardew in England, came back to Australia in the ‘70s and formed various groups inspired by his ideas. Is there a strong connection between the Splinter Orchestra and Ahern’s early AZ music activities and his [improvisation] group Teletopa?

JD: Not really, because I'm the only link. (Finally I've found my role - the missing link.) Teletopa, I now realise, was my major early influence.

DC: You were studying flute at the Sydney Con when Ahern first came back to Australia. Has Ahern played a role in shaping your own ideas about collaborative music making?

JD: Ahern was a HUGE influence for me. But more correctly: Teletopa, (a collective). I have recently heard recordings of this group from 36 years ago, and I love what they were doing. At the time I remember going to gigs and not really having an opinion – just soaking the experience up like a sponge. I was overwhelmed and taken by their performances.

DC: So in hindsight then, what is it about the actual music that you love? What’s going on musically?

JD: It was their uncompromising clarity. I remember Teletopa performances at the Inhibodress Gallery in Woolloomooloo [Sydney] in the early 1970s. It was the loudest music I had experienced and the performance was staged unconventionally as the musicians sat on the floor and wandered around the space. They had a total dedication to a ‘noise’ aesthetic. Despite Geoffrey Collins (flute), David Ahern (violin) and Roger Frampton (sax) being accomplished instrumentalists, at no point was there conventional instrumentalism. We heard gongs, kalimbas, cymbals and drums, thumped, bowed and scraped, contact mics amplifying rubbings and grindings, electronic bleeps and gritty tones, and occasional hints of a violin, a flute or a sax. It was a total dedication to skronk – but skronk without cathartic expressionism. This was spacious music: the placement of sounds in time/space is enlightened by advanced listening despite their rush towards sonic elementalism. It was never manic, and always collective – there are no solos here – this [was] a disciplined band with a clear agenda.

DC: For me, one of the most interesting things about Ahern’s experimental aesthetic is the way he destructed the relationship between the audience and performer. What are your thoughts about this? What role does the audience play in your own music making?

JD: I think re-contextualising serious music making was inevitable when you maintained that classical music was dead. AZ [music] and Teletopa were trying to explore new ways for audiences and performers to be conceived. That was an exciting time. I remember one concert my whole family went to at the Cell Block where we were given tickets and then an usher took us to our numbered seats. The stage was in the middle of the space. The usher after a time returned and said there had been a mistake and that she had to take us to new seats, she lead us over the stage, where Roger Frampton, I seem to remember, was underneath the piano. This was happening all over the hall; the audience was being moved around and at various times ended up 'on stage'. For our little family from Wollongong this functioned as DADA. It exploded my head.

DC: When I last saw the Splinter Orchestra play (at the NOW now festival) the performers were also in the middle of the room. Audience members were sitting, lying or standing in the space around the performers. I actually found myself wandering around to a few different places in the room, and at times I was sitting right next to some of the players. It was a fascinating experience. I found myself tuning in to different instruments at various moments depending on where I was in the room. It almost felt like I was part of the creative process because I was creating my own thread through the soundscape (despite how unrelated each moment I was connecting might have been) and what I was hearing was probably completely different to what the person across the other side of the room was hearing. But was I missing something by not hearing the orchestra as a complete entity? As a listener, how should I be approaching a performance like this?

JD: I'd say, as you see fit. It's the job of advertising or propaganda to try and control audience reaction and perception. Art has to be created in the head of the audience. Use it how you like.

In general, Improvisation is not concerned with 'works', it's concerned with process – it's presence culture as opposed to meaning culture. As there was no God-like creator, outside of the work, then I'd say your listening style was entirely appropriate.

DC: Anarchy seems to play an important part in the running of many collaborative music making activities – for example, the early days of Ahern’s AZ music; the Clifton Hill Community Music Centre, which Ron Nagorcka founded in ’76; and in more current times, along with the Splinter Orchestra, you’ve got events such as the NOW now festival. Why is this so?

JD: Art for me is about alternatives. That's why, for me, Ross Edwards isn't art, it presents more of the same. All the groups and organisations you've mentioned have strong individuals who were activists. But they can't call themselves artistic director – the music is too grounded in politics. Ahern tried to control the others in Teletopa, and according to Frampton, that's what destroyed the group.

The Splinter was organisationally hierarchical (Clayton drove the band, even called it his band on occasions), but artistically anarchic (in principle). Now, I think it's more collective in both senses. In reality? Very hard to judge, I think you'd need an anthropologist to do a study on us to find out.

DC: That’s interesting because since the NOW now festival, something that keeps coming up in conversations about collaborative music making is the interaction between acoustic and electronic artists (particularly laptop artists). Many people I’ve spoken to seem to feel that more often than not there is an unequal dialogue between the two. A friend recently explained this in the sense that she felt like the acoustic players are generally expected to respond to the electronic ones rather than meeting halfway. What are your thoughts on this?

JD: For me this is a furphy. People are bringing their own prejudices to this debate. I don't care whether people make sound with a swanee whistle, a cello or a computer. Of course, there are differences between instruments and methods of sound production. And there is something very complex going on with conventional instrumental traditions and singers that is totally engaging. But the notion that computers are devoid of the complex corporeal interactions that make music interesting seems absurd to me. You could equally say that a harpsichord, with limited dynamic range, and no contact by the performers with the string is a lesser instrument to the cello. Something is lost with the harpsichord and something is gained: it's different, has different potentials. The job is to play within those potentials. Can Ben Byrne play with his computer's potentials? Yes. That's all that counts. I don't feel any meeting with him musically is a halfway meeting. It is different but no less engaging for me to play with him than to play with Amanda Stewart. Her instrument is not only her voice, she isn't just a vocalist; like Hendrix her voice interacts with a complex mic/loudspeaker set up. She is as much as an electronic artist as Ben Byrne.

DC: That wasn’t really what I meant. The ‘unequal dialogue’ wasn’t referring to an instrument’s capacity to interact and make interesting music. There are differences, but making that kind of quality judgment definately misses the point! It’s more about the actual interaction itself. Often the sound created by a laptop artist is constant. Even though they are reacting and responding to other players and therefore creating different sounds, (generally) the totality of their sound doesn’t change. There is generally no sense of space or silence throughout their interactions. This is an observation rather than a judgment (comparing silence and non-silence isn’t the point here). But from a listener’s point of view, continual sound from the laptop artist can give the appearance that they are driving the performance and the interaction then doesn’t seem ‘equal’. Does that make sense? This is interesting because obviously as a performer your experience is very different!

JD: Not really. Having just spent hours [over] the last 2 months mixing recordings we did of Metalog [an improvisation project consisiting of Jim Denley, Natasha Anderson, Dale Gorefinkel, Robbie Avenaim, and Amanda Stewart], then I'd say more often than not it's Dale, Amanda, Robbie, Natasha or me making the 'constant' sound. Ben on laptop is largely using short violent phrasing. Of course laptops often play constantly in blocks without the use of silence. But they don't have to.

In performance, there is a resolution issue. Even 24-bit digital sound lacks the presence that an acoustic instrument has. But as soon as you amplify the acoustic instruments and put them in the same PA then you have partly put everyone into the same space: microphones in live situations are usually pretty insensitive. And a lot of computer musicians and electronic musicians in general use compression, so dynamics are contained. Having played in ensembles for years with electronic and computer musicians I am well aware that these resolution issues create problems (but art is about solving problems). I've always felt equal to Rik Rue, Martin Ng or Ben Byrne and I don't perceive there to be an inherent power problem in interactions with computer artists. When I shut my eyes and play I really don't care how others are making their sounds.

But...

I think there is a big difference between loudspeaker sounds and acoustic sounds. What is acoustic sound though?

When you go and see an orchestra at the Sydney Opera House these days it is miked up and slightly compressed: we are so used to hearing electronic music even when we think it isn't. Almost all music that people hear now is through loudspeakers. In a group like Metalog, Amanda’s voice is loudspeaker sound, while I sometimes operate acoustically as well as with the PA; in a sense, she has more to do with Ben and his laptop. But because it's a human voice our perception is that it's acoustic, or we analyse it in that realm. It's electronic signals going to a loudspeaker.

But...

I think partly what you are identifying is that phrasing in music has changed dramatically in 21st century music. La Monte Young has more to do with that than the laptop, but I guess laptops have made long blocks of sound material without phraselogy based on breath, accessible.

The theatre of making a sound on an instrument [is what] signals to the listener [the importance of that sound]. The lack of gestural information coming from the laptop player means that there may be a perceptual problem for the audience: the sounds [aren't] visually signalled. They are used to seeing the sound produced and consequently can't listen to the sound of a laptop – maybe they don't even hear it?

It would be interesting to do tests on the blind to see if they have problems with laptops in performance.

DC: I’ve heard that you plan to release a CD of some of Ahern’s music later this year?

JD: Teletopa actually. Yep that's the plan. It's a recording of the group from 1971 NHK Tokyo [Nippon Hoso Kyokai, i.e. Japan Broadcasting Corporation]. They went on a world tour. It's a great recording, sound wise and artistically. It will, I hope, put Teletopa where it should be: as the most important development in 1970s Australian serious music.

DC: Ahern once described the art form of improvisation as a ‘living organism’, since this kind of music is structured in the single moment of its occurrence. So if this type of music is constantly evolving and moving forward do you think it is important for musicians to be aware of their music heritage?

JD: No. Mozart didn't hear Bach till he was 21. Phil Samartzis, who with his group Gum was experimenting with turntables, said recently that he hadn't heard Christian Marclay. Culture moves in strange and complex ways; memes spread like viruses. My exposure to Teletopa means that I carry that knowledge with me, and the younger musicians who interact with me don't necessarily need to know Teletopa. We exist in traditions that we may not be aware of. That's why I'm a missing link: nobody knows my traditional importance! (part joke). They will, though, when the CD comes out.

But in the world we live in, there are so many recordings and works to know – far too many. You cannot get your head around all the stuff that you 'should'. In fact it isn't possible to know the tradition any more. My experience is that musicians tend to be more interesting the more they know. But there are too many examples of naive artists doing great work for this to be dogma.

ventures into a new year

2008-01-08T20:14:00.000+11:00

It's 2008 already - eek!

After such a chaotic (but exciting) year, this little hummingbird decided to fly south seeking adventure in Tasmania's south west. And adventure did she find! Wading through thigh deep mud, hail storms, leeches, broken stoves, flooded creeks, mischievous possums, hitching rides with mysterious strangers, midnight picnics on the beach, skinny dipping in freezing cold lakes, walking alone through the stunning valleys and mountains, night kayaking on Hobart's Sandy Bay, drinking really bad wine around a campfire with random travelers, walks along the sea cliffs of Tassie's east coast with new friends, lazying on the beach drinking beer and watching the waves crash... Everything we planned morphed into an exciting unexpected adventure. Not as much wilderness as I'd hoped for, but I made some amazing new friends and have a renewed faith in the concept of spontaneity - a definite the theme of this holiday!

So anyway, 2008... another year full of adventures... My diary is filling up so fast already. Festivals all over the country to check out, an artist residency in May, a bunch of other creative projects, exciting gigs coming up... and hopefully a splash or two of spontaneous madness for good measure!

sphere of influence

2007-12-11T18:51:00.000+11:00

When first entering the gallery space at the NSW Art Gallery to see Jon Rose’s latest installation, I initially felt intimidated. A giant 3-metre ball lay dormant in the middle of a silent room. I knew that the audience was supposed to ‘play ball’ – the large object embodied interactive technology so that any movement of it triggered sound and imagery. But what was the etiquette? And how was I supposed to figure out the rules?

I think part of my intimidation was a result of the creators – Jon Rose and Robin Fox – standing off to the side as observers of our actions. A strange role reversal: the audience – manipulator of sounds; the creators – the silent voyeurs…

It wasn’t long before initial hesitations vanished, and my friends and I became absorbed in throwing, sliding, spinning, bouncing and touching the giant ball – testing its strength, exploring different movements, figuring out how the sounds were being manipulated, wondering about its breaking point…

The room was transformed into a surreal kid’s playground with cries of ‘Over here, over here – throw it to me!’

Yet as the ball moved back and forth across the room, intricate layers of agonising sounds and images swirled around us. Screeching, whimpering, heavy breathing, and moaning entwined with other vocal samples of harmonised latin text, ritualistic bass drum beats and violin/electronic samples that scraped, squealed and trembled. Images of performance artist Aku Kadogo were projected onto the walls of the gallery, her bloodied, abused naked body huddled shrunken into what looked like a human ball. Ball, sound and womyn suffering as one - a juxtaposition that was shocking and raw. And to drive the point even further, projected text completed the installation: 'Destroy', 'Wrath', 'What nourishes me, destroys me'.

For me, bringing the ball to a point of stasis was powerful. This action brought the entire room to the edge of silence. Blank screens. Empty speakers. Calmness. Peace. A sense of control… And when the sounds and imagery grew from this silence, not only was I much more focussed on their nuances – the layers of sound, the juxtaposition of image and sound – but I was brought back to an awareness that I was actually creating the sounds/imagery by moving the ball… the violence and brutality of the sounds/images penetrating the room was a direct result of my action. I was responsible…

Jon Rose’s message was blatant: we are responsible for our actions – the earth is in our hands; its survival depends on us. And, as one of the projected texts exclaimed: ‘There is no free lunch’. The simplicity of such a message enhanced the installation; combined with such sophisticated technology it made for a powerful piece of art.

A performance – where two dancers dressed in black manipulated the ball – followed the installation. The audience crowded around the edge of the room while the dancers ran, tumbled, and danced with the ball – pushing, heaving, bouncing, throwing, hurling, caressing, punching, sliding, balancing, spinning… And as before, manipulation of the ball triggered grotesque, aggressive, and in-your-face sound/images.

Even back in the role of passive observer, the emotional intensity was unrelenting. In some ways, I found this experience more shocking than the installation because my senses weren’t distracted by the physicality of moving the ball: this time, there was no escaping the violence of the sounds and imagery. Even Hollis Taylor’s haunting violin melody, performed live from a corner of the gallery space towards the end of the performance, served only to intensify the atmosphere: for me, the melody symbolised a yearning plea from mother earth (presumably who Kadogo represented?) to begin taking more responsibility...

But of course, the ball speaks other stories as well...

now now festival in the mountains

2007-12-10T18:56:00.000+11:00

The 2008 NOW now festival of Spontaneous Music - much to my pleasure and convenience - will be up in the blue mountains at the Wentworth School of Arts next year. The festival launch is on tonight at the Abercrombie in the City...

It's a 3 day festival of music making, instrument building, workshops, installations, sound walks, and outdoor events and will be held from 18-20 January.

Some of the artists include: Phil Samartzis (VIC), Marcia Jane (VIC), Paul Winstanley (NZ), Amanda Stewart, Greg Kingston (TAS), Caroyln Connors (VIC), Rosalind Hall (VIC), Taste of Teeth (QLD), Son of the Seventh Sister, Passenger of Shit, Joyce Hinterding, Ross Bolleter (WA), Jon Rose, Clare Cooper, Thomas Meadowcroft, Dan Whiting, Rory Brown, Matt Earle, Adam Sussman, Rivka Schembri, Louise Dibben, Xavier Charles (France), Emmanuel Pellegrini (France), Brendan Walls, Splinter Orchestra, Mathieu Werchowski (France), Jim Denley, Natasha Anderson, Ben Byrne, Dale Gorfinkel, Sam Dobson, Alex Masso, Monika Brooks, Simon Ferenci, Yusuke Akai (QLD), Daiji Igarashi (QLD), Nik Mayer-Miller (QLD), Sam Mitchell (QLD), JoJo Dogshit (QLD)...

For more detail see here: www.thenownow.net

tchaikovsky piano trio op.50 no.2

2007-12-10T17:33:00.001+11:00

I came across this iPod MEME at Marc Geelhoed's Deceptively Simple. Given that I share my iTunes with my flatmate (and we don't always have the same taste in music) and that I have some absolute shockers stored in my files, this should be hilarious...

The rules:

1. Put your iTunes/ music player on Shuffle
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER WHAT

1. If someone says ‘Is this OK?’ you say?
'Melinda the Mousie' Ella Fitzgerald

[yep, it's OK for sure. Love is always bound to go wrong...]

2. What would best describe your personality?
'Oll Birtan' Bjork from Medulla

[distinct, expressive, unusual, creative, sweet, fun, playful, goddess... :-)]

3. What do you like in a girl/boy?
'(return of) the electric horseman' Powderfinger, from Double Allergic

[In your climb to be unique / Why don't you see you have all turned out the same - yeah I'm not bitter about love at the moment, really I'm not...]

4. How do you feel today?
'Raised on Robbery' by Joni Mitchell from Court and Spark

[I'm rough but I'm pleasin']

5. What is your life’s purpose?
JS Bach Cello Suite # 1 in G, BMW 1007 - Prelude (Pablo Casals)

[to be grounding, influential, calming, inspiring, and beautiful? I can live with that!]

6. What is your motto?
Turn Out the Stars by Bill Evans

[hhmm...]

7. What do your friends think of you?

'Road Movie to Berlin' by They Might be Giants from Flood

[I'm leading them astray?]

8. What do you think of your parents?
Buenos Aires Hora Cero Astor Piazzola

[I think they should dance more...]

9. What do you think about very often?
Beethoven's Piano Sonata No.30 Third Movement (Maurizio Pollini)

[god I can't think of anything worse...]

10. What does 2+2=
'Nothing but Sunshine' by Atmosphere from Lucy Ford

[what more can I say?]

11. What do you think of your best friend?
'The Woman with the Tattoo' by Atmosphere from Lucy Ford

[Ha. She doesn't even have a tattoo, but she is an artist and she's pretty damned special...]

12. What do you think of the person you like?
'Outside the Wall' Pink Floyd The Wall

[After all its not easy,
Banging your heart against some mad buggers wall - Yup, It's true!]

13. What is your life story?

'Spaghetti Eastern' by Uncle Ho from Circus Maximus

[hmm...low budget, minimalist, eschewing convention, violent and all with an ironic twist...yup!]

14. What do you want to be when you grow up?
Partita No. 3 E Major BMV1006 Gigue by JS Bach

[didn't we already mention this? ...grounding, influential, calming, inspiring, and beautiful ;-)]

15. What do you think when you see the person you like?
'Heartattack and Vine' by Tom Waits from Heartattack and Vine

[If you want a taste of madness, you'll have to wait in line - oh, dear...]

16. What do your parents think of you?
Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 32 First Movement (Maurizio Pollini)

[angry, loud, expressive, unconventional and a bit of a nutter? yeah, something like that...]

17. What will you dance to at your wedding?
'Mumuki' by Astor Piazzola from Tango: Zero Hour

[I'm gonna get married?]

18. What will they play at your funeral?
'Wake Up' The Arcade Fire from Funeral

[Ha! I should bloody hope so!]

19. What is your hobby/interest?
'Good Timing' by Rastawookie EP Album

[Yes, my main interest in life is living to the beat of a metronome. Good timing is everything! Eek!]

20. What is your biggest secret?
'Heat Miser' by Massive Attack from Protection

[It's true. I'm the source of global warming. I'm a heatin' it up]

21. What do you think of your friends?
JS Bach's Partita No.2 D minor BMV1004 Sarabanda

[Bach again? Yikes... oh well, um...grounding, influential, calming, inspiring, and beautiful...]

22. What should you post this as?
Tchaikovsky: Piano Trio op.50 no.2

[ew... what's that doing there? I dont even like Tchaikovsky...]

political death of howard

2007-12-10T16:34:00.000+11:00

So, he's gone... hoorah! I could prattle for hours about the lies and deceit of the Howard years, but instead I'll point you in the direction of the Museum of Fire who sums it all up quite nicely.

Other bloggers have posted about Howard's political funeral held a few days after the election.
Members of the Aboriginal Community in Adelaide held a smoking ceremony to 'symbolise the burying of the Howard era'.

In the last few weeks 'Howard's stump' (which sits across the road from my house) has been replaced by a fragile sapling. With Howard's ousting, I guess it's thought that his Oak Tree in the Corridor of Oaks will now be allowed to grow in peace... Oak Trees for the prime ministers of Australia I hear you ask? Well it's typical really. Cultural cringe at its best. Not only is the oak tree a symbol of strength and endurance, it's also the national tree of England (and a few other nation Euopean nations)...

Already, a new plot has been prepared for Rudd's tree. Someone has added an 's' to the sign next to it, so it now aptly reads: "Rudd's (s)election"... Yes, that's right Rudd: a lot of people voted for you simply because you weren't Howard... a fresh government might be just what this country needs, but there's a lot of work to do...

a new dimension to dumpster diving

2007-12-10T16:18:00.000+11:00

This adds a whole new dimension to food activism and dumpster diving... I can't believe it's never occurred to me to do things other than eat the piles of wasted food we find...

anti-human and bestial policies?

2007-11-15T17:16:00.000+11:00

With only one and a half weeks until Australians hit the voting booths, election fever is rampant. My letterbox is struggling with the copious amounts of party propaganda being stuffed into it daily... It seems ironic that, as I type this entry, I'm looking (from my bedroom window) across at the famous Corridor of Oaks, where a new oak tree has been planted over the course of history for each Australian Prime Minister. Will a new one be planted in the coming weeks? Or will "Howard's stump" (his tree was chopped down long ago by locals) continue to serve as the symbol for Australia's current leadership?

In the midst of arguing politics with friends, writing letters to local members and organising/participating in rallies on climate change and human rights, I stumbled across an arts policy that made me realise I had it all wrong!

Who needs to worry about 'aspirational' goals on climate change and the violation of basic human rights for Australians in the NT and refugees, when we can turn to classical music to "generate a culture of beauty, allowing us to understand the true nature of mankind"?

The Citizens Electoral Council of Australia promote "classical music, visual arts and great classical theatrical productions to counter the anti-human, bestial policies represented by the rock-drug-sex counterculture, which took off in the 1960s." The policy is all too brief, but it seems that they actually mean 'Classical' in the true sense of the word and their opinions on "hideous modernist and postmodernist 'art'" is quite clear. Hmm, it doesn't seem to fare well for contemporary composers either! Though whether their music is also "anti-human and bestial" remains unclear...

All hail Classical music!

loud, soft and with feeling

2007-11-14T21:45:00.000+11:00

I interviewed percussionist Claire Edwardes a while back for an article published in RealTime magazine's Issue 81. You can read it here.

dramatic counterpoints to a relentless drone

2007-11-14T19:26:00.000+11:00

A piercing relentless drone of cicadas is the current background music to my life. Unless the air pressure drops significantly, there is no stopping them. Summer is here! It's really quite an overwhelming sound - each creature producing a slightly different frequency than its friend. The dissonant pitches throb against each other like the loud shrill echo that remains in your ear after a loud rock concert - only worse (or perhaps the throbbing is actually from attending too many rock gigs!?). I can't decide whether I like it or hate it - it brings back pleasant memories of summer holidays spent camping in the bush, but it isn't very conducive for getting work done!

While the cicadas - who apparently have a seven year breeding cycle, hence why they're so much louder this year - have been emerging to announce summer, the rest of my life's activities have served (some much more than others) as a dramatic counterpoint to their incessant repetition...

For various reasons I've been doing more thinking lately than writing (especially thinking about writing!), but so much has been happening in the last month that I feel the urge to summarise so that my poor feeble brain doesn't forget... So, at a quick glance, here are a few of the random happenings of late:

* Chatting on Radio: Along with oz composer Damien Barbeler, I was invited to speak on New Music Up Late about the Australian works that have been chosen for the Paris Rostrum of Composers over the last 25 years. Aside from being ultra nervous (I've never spoken on air before), I had heaps of fun. It was a very relaxed affair with Damien, Julian and I chatting freely about what we personally liked and disliked about each piece.

* With the weather in the Blue Mountains finally getting warmer, some friends organised a community forest doof in Faulconbridge. I spent the afternoon going creatively nuts, designing some funky installations to decorate the space. The night was amazing, with some great psytrance sets and awesome fire twirling acts. Photos will be up here soon.

* I've been to a bunch of gigs and concerts in the last few months. Some include: The Caged Uncaged festival, presented by The Song Company and Ensemble Offspring (you can read an a review of the concert here); This is Not Art festival (an amazing 5 days of 'stuff' - gigs, workshops, forums, debates, ginger beer, discussions, zine fair, poetry readings, etc. etc. etc.); Combat Wombat's 'Get rid of John Howard tour'; the delightful Peregrine and The Saturns at The Annandale, Cloud Control at the Red Room, Katoomba... the list goes on...

* 2007 APEC forum: Of course, the biggest highlight of the last two months was the APEC forum held for a weekend inside a massive 5 kilometre fence in the heart of Sydney. Sydney-siders not only had the pleasure of hosting APEC, they also had the pleasure of paying for it. And with the resulting 'aspirational goals' from participating governments, who can argue that it wasn't all worth the hundreds of million dollars spent out of tax-payers pockets? While thousands of protesters rocked up in Hyde park to demonstrate, some of the more musically inclined activists spent an afternoon exploring the 'sonic wonders' of the hideous construction, by performing on the fence.

* While tempted to stay at home on Wednesday 12 September and watch the cheeky antics of the Chaser’s War on APEC: I didn’t. Instead, I frocked up and headed to Sydney Theatre where the music industry was celebrating the 2007 Classical Music Awards. It was a fun night – exceptional performances, great food, wine and a chance to pay tribute to the excellence and dedication of our arts practitioners.

I was initially disappointed that Liza Lim’s Mother Tongue didn’t win the Best Composition by an Australian Composer award – it’s an amazing piece. Based on the poems of Patricia Sykes (commissioned by Lim herself), it explores the concept of language – its loss, acquisition and intimacy. I have to admit though, that it’s easy to see why Roger Smalley’s Birthday Tango won the award. While I don’t think it’s on the same scale as pieces such as his Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, this work for string orchestra is delightful! And as you’d expect this work is no ordinary tango. He delicately pushes the boundaries of the tango form by subtly distorting the well-known tango rhythm and exploring rich dissonant harmonies, while maintaining a strong lyricism in the melodic lines. The orchestration is certainly well crafted and the unusual rhythm creates a compelling momentum, which I find really appealling. Roger performed at the awards, along with Topology, and Taikoz. You can read the list of winners here.

... so there you go: a few highlights of the spring just past... and if I manage to find a way to block out the cicadas, there's certainly lots to look forward to this summer - did I mentioned I have tickets to see Bjork? Yippee!

in reflection

2007-09-10T22:48:00.000+10:00

It was suggested last week that my comments about Tognetti were inappropriate. On reflection, while I wasn't intentionally trying to personally attack Tognetti, I can see some of my words need clarification...

I tagged Jon Rose's article for two reasons: 1. I found the article interesting because it resonated strongly with my own value system; 2. I thought others might be interested in reading it. You could say it's a passing salute to Rose's values and political stance. So rather than an attack on Tognetti, it was supposed to be a reflection of my own views. I'm painfully aware that I could have expressed this more clearly. But I also think I should clarify the purpose of my blog.

A little hummingbird is a space where I can record my thoughts, feelings, experiences and ideas about music - my personal wanderings through the maze of the music world. It is here that I can take off my 'AMC' hat and speak freely about anything I'm passionate about. I might choose to publish reviews, rant and rave about things I'm interested in or simply point to articles or videos that surface in my rummaging through cyberspace. I choose to publish these words in a format that allows others to respond because I think dialogue is important - it helps us to shape our ideas and expand or consolidate our viewpoint.

And its purpose? You can read more about my reasons for blogging here. I also recently co-wrote an article about blogging here as well as another about online documentation. But essentially it all comes down to my passion for music, writing and the dialogue surrounding music.

a confused little kerri-anne

2007-09-04T18:49:00.000+10:00

I just came across this hilarious excerpt from talkshow host kerri-anne's TV series. She is interviewing Australian composer Jon Rose about his electrified violin bows and is completely bewildered by his instrument and performance.

You can listen to Jon Rose here as guest announcer on Bowed Radio - an online radio station that highlights string players all over the world. In the background between works you can hear a recording of one of his fence performances (I think it is a fence in Bourke, NSW?). His website has an amazing amount of resources about all that is stringed... he's written a great article about the ridiculous amount of money spent on the Guarneri del Gesù violin which was given to Richard Tognetti earlier this year. Rose is right: "the concept of a $10,000,000 violin sounds out the smiling but ugly face of capitalism". How Tognetti manages to play that bloody instrument without guilt weighing heavily on his back, I'll never know! It makes my skin crawl...

this is not art

2007-09-04T18:28:00.000+10:00

I've been trying to get up to Newcastle on the October long weekend for the last few years, but there always seemed to be an adventure to be had elsewhere. This year I'm actually going! Three festivals in one - inspiration, creativity, partying and general mischief - for five whole days! What more could a girl want! This is Not Art festival, Electrofringe and the National Young Writers Festival. See you all there!

new music and activism

2007-08-21T17:37:00.000+10:00

I wrote a short rant for resonate magazine last week about new music and activism. You can read it here.

embarrassing story

2007-08-17T19:25:00.000+10:00

So a slightly embarrassing story...

Having decided to stop work for a coffee break the other day, I wandered away from my computer into the kitchen. Before going I hit the play button to stream one of Julian Day's interviews on New Music Uplate. As I stood listening to my little espresso maker work its magic, my house began literally shaking with the vibrations of an incessant clatter. It sounded like a record player skipping over and over the same scratch on a record. Or as though a train was bombarding my living room. I'd left my computer plugged into my speakers and they were really really loud!

Assuming something was wrong with the streaming at Julian's end, I emailed him the next day and moaned that it wasn't working - the interview was freezing. He replied with a puzzled email: he'd just been listening to it himself. Weird. I sent him an email laughing about how embarrassing it would be if it turned out to actually be a piece of music... I tried again today. And guess what? It was! Eek... I'm never going to live this one down!

But I swear at the decibels that I heard the opening of this piece, even Anthony Pateras himself (it was one of his prepared piano works) wouldn't have recognised it! I am humbly ashamed...
but amused all the same.

Anyway, Pateras's stuff is fascinating - prepared piano and explorations into tempo and rhythm. He marks Ligeti as a huge influence. Check out the interview here. JD also talks to David Chisholm about his recent show: the beginning and end of the snow...

psycho-acoustic experiences

2007-08-17T10:07:00.000+10:00

I'm certainly going to have to start travelling again soon...

http://www.newmusicbox.org/chatter/chatter.nmbx?id=5201

the problem of silence

2007-08-11T13:08:00.001+10:00

...and speaking of Morton Feldman... I came across this interesting article yesterday about the colonization of silence....

clipped wings

2007-08-11T10:54:00.000+10:00

This little hummingbird's wing are clipped this weekend - I'm house bound. As a result of a painful skiing stack last weekend, I currently have an oddly shaped left foot and a potentially torn ligament. Grrr! I have crutches, but the novelty wore off as soon as I crossed the living room floor! They're exhausting.

I'm determined to make the most of the weekend though! I'm currently surrounded by a pile of tattered and torn second hand books, an assortment of CDs, paints, a bunch of blank canvasses and masses of tasty fair trade coffee - yum! An indulgence in creativity! Who needs to be able to walk ? Ha - I scoff at you two-legged freaks wandering about, walking your dogs, bopping away at the pub, playing frisbee, and climbing mountains...

...anyway...

So what am I listening to? What's in my pile of random music? A mix of favourites and things I've been meaning to sit down and listen to in a while...

Duo Vertigo - Vertigo One
Milica ilic - Stir the Sky
Morton Feldman - Piano and String Quartet/ Aki Takahashi + Kronos Quartet
Liza Lim - The Heart's Ear
Bjork - Medulla
Bjork - Volta
Uncle Ho - Circus Maximus
Kid Confucius - Stripes
Håkon Thelin - A P)Reference To Other Things
Kappa - trio altraove 1.3
Philip Glass - The Essential Philip Glass
Ros Bandt - Stacks
Messiaen - Quatuor pour la fin du temps (Couraud)
Varese - Arcana/Ameriques/ionization (Boulez)

resonate - it's up!

2007-08-02T19:53:00.000+10:00

Well it's been a long challenging journey, but resonate - the AMC's new web magazine is now launched! Hoorah! It's got the lot - interviews, features, group blog, journal, calendar, concert reviews...I'm really excited about working as editor - lots of ideas to explore...

You can check it out at: http://www.resonatemagazine.com.au

Don't forget to check out the inaugural issue of the resonate journal, which I co-edited with Rhiannon Cook...

a little ball of energy...

2007-07-16T17:15:00.000+10:00

Yikes, again, this poor little hummingbird has been grossly neglected in the mad rush to get resonate up and running (new web magazine at AMC). It's been almost a month since I've posted - lame, lame lame! But the good news is: we launch next week! So hopefully the chaotic mess of my life will subside somewhat in the next few weeks and I will find the time to let this lil bird sing!

Despite the work overload, I've seen an enormously random mix of music gigs in the last month: the Liquid Architecture Festival (and all the 'offensiveness' that accompanied it!), Sydney Symphony (Mahler's 6th), Patricia Kopatchinskaja with the Australian Chamber Orchestra and just last weekend I even managed to get to a psytrance doof up past Newcastle...

I might record my thoughts about some of these gigs soon...

In the meantime, here is an interview I conducted with the little ball of energy that is Patricia Kopatchinskaja. She is currently touring with the ACO and this article was first published in 2MBS-FM 102.5 Fine Music magazine July 07.

Violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja will make her Australian debut this year, touring with the Australian Chamber Orchestra from 30 June to 11 July. Danielle Carey talks to Patricia about her role as a live performer in today’s world of music on demand.

Thriving on the spontaneity and risk, Moldovian-born Patricia Kopatchinskaja is building a reputation for preferring live performance to CD recordings. For Patricia, a live performance is an organic life form that a CD cannot replicate – a dynamic existence that is truly unique. There is the thrill of hearing the unexpected, the danger of living on the edge, the challenge of maintaining perfect control of your instrument, the excitement of interacting with an audience. During my email exchange with her, she uses the analogy of museum replicas to elaborate this point: ‘Take insects or other animals,’ she writes. ‘You can kill them, stick them on a needle or stuff them, and [then] put them in a museum. You then can pretend that this is “the honeybee” or “the lion”, but these preparations have nothing to do with real animals. [There is] no movement, no danger, no sex, no surprise, no life. [It’s] just the same with recordings, they are dead insects.’

I find this idea fascinating – it seems to defy the commercialisation that is currently engulfing the arts. For Patricia, music isn’t a static product to be consumed; it is a dynamic interaction between the performer and the listener. It also has a specific social function – entertaining an audience is not nearly enough: ‘the performer has to be a guide, unfolding meaning, imagination and [the] emotion of a piece.

Patricia’s performances in Australia will surely be no exception. A quick glance at her website – where, incidentally, you can download tracks of previous performances – will show you that she does not compromise her ideals, but approaches her work with unrelenting integrity.

The program itself includes some politically driven pieces, bearing a strong message of hope against war: ‘I am just a musician [without] much knowledge about politics’, she writes. ‘But as a human being [with] the duty to maintain values…of course, I am – as every reasonable person on this world is – against war and violence.’

Written as a response to the World War II invasion of Prague, Karl Hartmann’s renowned Concerto Funèbre is one of the works she will perform. While most artists either fled the country or (reluctantly) joined the Nazi party, Hartmann chose to remain under Hitler’s regime as one of the few passive resistants to the atrocities that occurred.

His concerto is, however, not entirely pessimistic: ‘The Concerto Funèbre was written as a reaction to evil times,’ Patricia explains. ‘It contains conflict and violence, but also hope and faith. It’s really about the limits of human existence, which makes it a gripping and compelling piece – most worthwhile to present and to listen to. Having [chosen] Hartmann [for the program] we found it fitting to pair it with the work of a victim of these times – Gideon Klein [who was a composer in the Terezin concentration camp]… Some of the greatest musicians refused to cooperate with Nazi rule. Besides Hartmann, [there was] Adolf Busch, Pablo Casals, Arthur Grumiaux, [all of whom] we should admire and follow.’

New music also plays an important role in Patricia’s work as a performer. It has had a ‘radical influence on my way of experiencing and dealing with music,’ she states on her website. ‘Contemporary music is the air I breathe. Composers are the musicians I feel most at ease with. I like to try out, discuss and play new pieces, preferably while the ink is still wet and no “experts” or rigid traditions impede freedom.’

When I asked her about this passion for the new she wrote about the difficulties with performing contemporary music: ‘Somebody told me once [that] to compose in our time is like [selling] umbrellas in the Sahara,’ she wrote. ‘The public of classical concerts has acquired a routine in listening – they don't like to be aroused by new sounds.’ Along with this general feeling towards contemporary music, she believes there is still an attitude of elitism amongst concertgoers:’ It’s like visiting a museum where you know exactly what you are going to see and admire.’ And if new music is viewed as a threat or a risk to the pleasures of a ‘nice concert’, programming new music then becomes problematic: concert producers find they need to comply with this conservatism out of sheer financial necessity.

Of course it should be noted that Patricia adores older music as well – indeed, she will perform both Rossini’s String Sonata no 3 in C and Vivaldi’s Violin Concerto in D, ‘Il grosso mogul’, during her Australian tour. But as a performer, Patricia sees the importance of maintaining a balance between giving audiences exactly what they want to hear and challenging them with new music and so allowing the art form to evolve meaningfully: ‘We interpreters have to decide if we want to play this game or if we believe that this narrow classical world should be a real art form which has the duty to reflect life from all sides – not only its past forms, but also its current development.’

Given her interest in new music, it’s no surprise that Patricia also composes. She says it is the ‘best way to understand and to appreciate [the] music of other composers’. Mostly though, it is instinctual: ‘Why does a bird sing? It does not know. Perhaps it’s innate? I just feel better if I do it… Even if you can eat in fantastic restaurants, one sometimes feels the natural wish to try to cook...You suddenly realise: it's not a miracle – it contains raw materials and ingredients, which you [can] possibly even buy in a supermarket and [then] try yourself to copy [like a recipe] and put some personal note on it!’

During her tour with the ACO, Patricia will give the Australian premiere of Per Australia – a work she wrote specifically for this orchestra. Having never visited Australia until now, she says this work is largely inspired by the ‘Australia of her dreams’. And how will this piece sound? It’s difficult to imagine – her list of influences is huge: The Second Viennese School (Schoenberg, Webern, Berg) has been a major influence, but so has music of the Renaissance, the ‘energy’ of the Baroque, pantomimes, theatre, and, of course, Eastern European folklore – the music of her childhood. It seems that the musical tastes and interests of this remarkable violinist are diverse in the extreme.

Working initially at the piano, Patricia allows her compositional process to evolve organically – first collecting ideas and then allowing the emerging work to diverge in many directions regardless of any original plans. While it is clear she loves this process, Patricia admits that it sometimes ‘lasts for months because my time is extremely limited [due to] playing about 100 concerts per year and having a small child at home.’

So what does Patricia hope to inspire in her listeners? ‘It’s impossible to put that in words,’ she says. ‘I seem to remember E.T.A. Hofmann, who said that music starts where the spoken word ends. However, I [do] hope to reach and touch them.’

an experiment in life at the piano

2007-06-18T21:15:00.000+10:00

My interview with pianist Michael Kieran Harvey was published last month in RealTime magazine. We chatted mostly about his recent recording of Larry Sitsky's The Way of the Seeker and a bit about art, science and politics. You can read it here...

a stressed little hummingbird...

2007-06-18T21:07:00.000+10:00

Yikes, I've been so busy at work that my poor little hummingbird has been left stranded and forgotten in a whirlwind of chaos... I wrote the last 2 posts a few weeks ago, but forgot to finish and upload. Thanks for reminding me Julian!

My life should reach some kind of normalcy in 2 weeks, which is when we'll hopefully launch the new magazine - yay! Until then, I'm afraid my little hummingbird will probably continue to be neglected...

a rockin' main course

2007-05-28T20:43:00.001+10:00

After an entrée of American ensemble music, I headed down the road to the Basement to hear GangAwry – a local progressive rock band who were celebrating the CD launch of their latest album Politics.

Aside from a quick glance at their MySpace page the night before, I’d never heard of these guys before. My friend – being an avid fan – had organised a bunch of us to check them out. She certainly wasn’t the only fan. The basement was packed with friends, family and groupies who drank heartedly, singing along with the words of almost every song and cheekily heckling the band members.

My friend was probably the biggest heckler of them all: “your mother loves it”, she screamed at one point before glancing mischievously at one of the band member’s mother who was standing just a few metres away smiling proudly.

It’s rare to see such a level of intimacy at a rock gig (although the small, personal nature of the venue naturally played a role here), and it was interesting to catch a ‘behind-the-scenes’ glimpse of the support that these guys obviously have for their music making.

As a band, they were extremely tight and well-rehearsed – a very slick act with excellent stage presence. I did leave feeling a little uninspired though. Their formulaic riffs and harmonies left me yearning for something far more cutting edge and new...

a listener's dilemma

2007-05-28T20:42:00.000+10:00

I love being able to peel away the layers of a piece of music, finding multiple meanings and new ways of listening. Most fascinating for me is discovering how the artist arrived at the final point. Where did she find that initial inspiration? What processes did she follow to get the results she wanted? What aspects of the music were important for her in its creation? What decisions did she make along the way? What meaning does it have for her?

Perhaps this is why I’m a huge fan of pre-concert talks. When I go to a performance, learning about the works is just as interesting as hearing the works performed… Besides, this way I can learn more about the works I'm hearing or possibly I’m just too lazy to do this research myself beforehand!

I got thinking about all this during a performance by the Modern Music Ensemble conducted by Carolyn Watson on 24 May. The program – an interesting mix of American contemporary music – included: Copland's Appalachian Spring, Harbison's Confinement and Druckman's Come Round.

Richard Toop gave the pre-concert talk and I was surprised to discover that while the concert hall was pretty healthily filled, only a handful of us attended Richard's talk. Why was this so? Were most people already familiar with these works? Did they not think they'd understand anything that was said? Or could they just not be bothered? Whatever the reason, they missed out! Richard's talks are always thoroughly enjoyable and insightful.

Aside from contextualising the works, one thing that Richard pointed out – for the latter works at least – was that while form was of particular importance for Harbison and Druckman during the compositional process, it isn't necessarily easily perceptible – the listener's perception is very different. He offered suggestions for possible threads throughout the pieces that might give us direction or points of reference on our first listening.

When chatting with friends after the concert about the role of program notes and pre-concert talks, the question arose about whether a work should be able to stand its ground without any supporting documentation. If a work needs a hefty program note alongside it so the audience can ‘get it’ is it actually successful? If it needs someone to rant about the work for half an hour before hand should the composer have even bothered? Interesting questions and not easily answered.

Putting any geeky obsessions aside, I think that notes or talks can be useful for giving listeners various points of reference during an otherwise potentially chaotic listening experience. I don’t think it is about telling the listener how they should be listening; it is more about assisting them to navigate through sounds they might hear. Emphasising that they are different ways of hearing, they might also give listeners confidence that what they are hearing is valid and empower them respond and react to what they are hearing – to give their opinions a voice...

cake celebrations?

2007-05-18T18:13:00.000+10:00

I just read that yesterday was the 50th Anniversary of computer music in America. It's so hard to imagine a world without the technology that infiltrates, and bombards our lives (well, at least in the majority of developed countries!).

My curiousity for discovering more about the evolution of computer music led me to an article written by ABC Journalist Cathy Johnson who writes about Australia's first computer (CSIRAC). This computer - the fourth in the world - was used as a musical instrument back in the early 1950s and is believed to be the first digital computer to be "played" anywhere throughout the world...

A good summary of what was going on in electronic music during the 1950s around the world can be seen here.

random overtones

2007-05-16T20:23:00.000+10:00

Until last night - when Antares Boyle and Janet McKay performed a collection of contemporary flute duos at the Sydney Conservatorium of music - I'd never heard a bass flute played live. Its deep growling tones left me yearning for more.

The work featuring the bass flute was Dominik Karski's Glimmer, where it and the alto flute interweave through a unique sound world of screeching, flutter tonguing, pitch bending, quarter tones and other extended techniques that exploit almost the entire range of both flutes.

This piece is quite typical of Karski's exploration with sound quality. His scores are dense with minute detail for how the performer should approach each note or rhythm, which by challenging the performers brings the actual physicality of the performance into focus. I don't think this is so much about the concept of the virtuoso (although this is certainly a factor) but more that aspects of playing that are generally hidden - breathing, hitting the keys etc. - are brought into focus and become an integral part of the sound world itself.

Perhaps this is why I found Yve Lavine's imagery projected behind the musicians (as amazing as it was) so distracting - I wanted to stay watching the performers but found my eyes kept switching uncomfortably between the two.

It was an interesting idea though and perhaps one way to make it more effective would be to better coordinate the images with the music. Rather than pre-programming the images, someone could flick between them in real time - at a much slower pace.

At the pub after the concert - where we drunk way too much beer and gobbled down cholesterol-dripping chips - we got chatting about what the images brought to the recital. Did they enhance the meaning? Did they project undue meaning onto the listeners ? Did they simply offer one interpretation of the music? Were they just pretty visuals that offered no meaning what-so-ever? Did they create multiple layers of meaning?

It turned out that the whole concept was actually an experiment for all three girls - none of them had done anything like this before. I'm really keen to see how their ideas evolve from this initial concept.

Distractions aside, I found the abstract images the most effective because they still allowed for my own interpretation of the music. When more recognizable images (such as baby's faces) were used I found it started to imply a particular interpretation on the music that I found at odds with my own listening.

Along with Karski's piece, Janet and Antares performed Toru Takemitsu's Masque, Joli Yuasa's Interpenetrations, Helen Fisher's Muriranga-Whenua, Hitomi Kaneko's Miyabi.

I'm not really familiar with Japanese music and I found most of these pieces fascinating. Like Glimmer, the other works on the program focussed on timbre, exploring interesting sound worlds with techniques such as pitch bending, and harmonics - the physicality of playing again seemed to be an integral and prominent feature of these works. New Zealand Helen Fischer evoked techniques from Maori culture - namely singing and pitch bending - and the piece itself was inspired by Maori legends about Grandmothers.

Janet and Antares are clearly passionate about new music - their vibrance, passion, and dedication was deeply inspiring. But it wasn't just their energy that inspired: their talent and execution of the program was brilliant. They showed a finesse in their music that is often lacking in other similar concerts (largely due to works being desperately under rehearsed, which isn't always our performers fault but one of the lacking support from government bodies! ).

I'm not sure when the duo are playing again - hopefully soon! I do know that Janet is playing with the Modern Music Ensemble on Tuesday 25 May at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. Copland, Harbison and Druckman are on the program, and Richard Toop will be giving a pre-concert talk!

Why Blog?

2007-05-01T20:42:00.000+10:00

Six months ago I began pondering the idea of a blog focusing specifically on Australian new music - it seemed like an interesting and fun project to embark upon. So after months of procrastination I've finally entered the blogging world.

And what an exciting world this is. Not only am I able to publish my writing immediately, but also people all over the world can read what I write. And even if no one actually cares, I can dwell in the satisfying illusion that I have a captive audience. Hmm...this could be addictive.

But ego aside, curiosity is actually what draws me to blogging - I want to learn more about music. The new music scene in Australia is growing rapidly and includes a diverse range of genres such as contemporary classical, experimental, electroacoustic, jazz, noise, sound art, sound installation and more. By discussing gigs, concerts, new works, CDs and books, I hope to explore different perspectives on these types of music as well as deepen my understanding about the aesthetics, philosophies and ideas associated with the art form.

Scribbling ideas into a tattered notebook - as I have done for many years - simply doesn't have the same effect. Writing in a public space forces me to be more critical of my own thinking (Yes, it comes back to the self-indulgent idea that someone might actually read what you are writing). But it does more than this: it also opens the possibility of dialogue. And discussion is a crucial aspect of an artistic community – it inspires, challenges and builds confidence, which in turn allows the art form to grow.

Last year I edited an issue of Sounds Australian devoted to examining some documentary processes surrounding new music in Australia. I argued that we - as an artistic community - need to be talking much more about our music. I guess this blog is finally a response to my own criticism of our community - I'm finally practicing what I was preaching!

While I am primarily driven by a passion for new music (and indeed writing itself), I am quite excited by the idea that others - who might share my interests - will be eager to engage with my writing by offering their views and opinions.

How often I post is yet to be seen. I do know, however, that I aim to use this blog as a place to explore different styles of writing: reviews, interviews, exploratory essays, features etc. So stay tuned!